Need a spec for a NAS

bods · 12 Oct 2009 at 11:10

Hi All,

So I need to build a NAS - this should be low power, 4 or 5 SATA disks, high network throughput. What sort of PSU / CPU / Motherboard should i be looking at?

I know it doesn't require top of the range CPU or graphics, but i would like to be able to get good throughput on disk and gig network. It will most likely run FreeNAS or Centos.
Not a big fan of motherboard raid either - i may just let the O/S do that.

Budget - up to £250...

Any ideas?

Thanks

topbanana · 12 Oct 2009 at 11:50

I imagine you won't need anything too powerful to saturate a Gigabit link.

bods · 12 Oct 2009 at 14:07

I know... It is tempting to use some older kit i have but i am not getting decent throughput and the motherboard does not support Sata. I am wondering if it is better to go build something newer with a more efficient PSU..I think it makes more sense.

bods · 12 Oct 2009 at 20:50

So... looking at this thread:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18060182

There's a £400 build which looks ok once i strip out the bits i don't require - but is it more than i need? - e.g. more processing power and consumes more power than I want. I notice most consumer NAS are based on Intel Atom - but these motherboards seem better suited to a smaller number of SATA disks...

confused... :confused:

topbanana · 13 Oct 2009 at 07:57

That's way more power than you need. I'd look for something like an Atom setup if I were you.

Tomsk · 13 Oct 2009 at 11:14

Asus Vintage V3-M3N8200 Barebones System - AMD64 (Socket AM2) £109.24
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £45.99
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99

bods · 13 Oct 2009 at 14:36

Tomsk said:
Asus Vintage V3-M3N8200 Barebones System - AMD64 (Socket AM2) £109.24
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £45.99
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99

That looks like a good option - any idea on what sort of disk / network throughput i would get on that as a NAS?

I did consider an Atom 330 solution but will those boards fit in a non mini-ITX case? This one> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-AS. Also a bit concerend about the restricted # slots and SATA on the Atom.

Thanks

Tomsk · 13 Oct 2009 at 14:52

Tomsk said:
Asus Vintage V3-M3N8200 Barebones System - AMD64 (Socket AM2) £109.24
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £45.99
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99

Assuming the motherboard has a Realtek chipset for the network, then you should get >90% on a gigabit network. My PC and servers have onboard Realtek and that's what they occasionally peak at. Usually the HD's (not RAIDed) are the limiting factor and I get a steady ~60%.

bods · 13 Oct 2009 at 15:12

Digging around it has the Realtek 8211CL-GR chipset.... hopefully that will do the trick....